Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-22
Fig CULTURE.
Is CAPRHICATION OFTHE SMYRNA
FIG NECESSARY!
An Interesting and Exhaustive Ar
ticle Upon the Question, With
Some Practical Conclusions.
lev. Maslin. in Auburn Republican

The importance of The question whether
caprifcation of the Smyrna fig, or fig of
commerce, is necessary, arises from the fact
) that seven or eight years ago the proprie-
| tors of the Bulletin imported from Smyrna
| about so 900 fig cuttings of the tree which
produces the so-called White Smyrna fig.
! These cuttings were distributed throughout
| the State, and, having arrived at the sup
| posed fruiting age, it is found that the fruit
| is small and invariably cast before il is ma
tu1e. I. IS alleged that the importers were
deceived, the parties who gathered the cut
! tings having sent the cuttings of the wild
or capri ig, in order TO prevent competi-
tion IN California with the product of
/ Smyrna. In an essay read before the Hort
! icultural Society at Los Angeles, Mr. Eisen,
! OF Fresno, suggested that the failure to
mature the fruit might be due to the want
of caprification practiced in Smyrna. This
suggestion has been more fully laid before
the public by the editor of the Chronicle in
q number of editorials. As the importation
! by the Bisllstia was supplemented by an
! other, made several years ago, by DR.. Still
man and others in San Bernardino, it is not
unlikely that to-day there are $4,000 Smyr-
ma fig trees growing in the State. As the
belief that caprification is a necessity is
obtaining, it is well to meet the question at
the threshold before some, despairing of
raising the fruit, shall cut down the trees.
For the encouragement of such as have the
trees, it is well to state at this point that at
the late meeting OF the Horticulture! So
ciety at Sacramento Mr.. Shinn, of Niles,
i IL, c.l,i
ped the cuttings to the Bulletin, told him
! that the scious were true to name; that the
! tree did not produce the large, marketable
| fig until it was seven or eight years old,
and that the cultivators need not be dis
couraged.
WHAT Is CAPRIFIcATIoN?
1t is a name given to the method of
propagating, enlarging, and ripening the
/ domestic fig by means of insects which
proceed from the fruit of the cdpJi .fcuS,
| or wild fig tree This tree bears and ma
lures three crops; first, erdtirites, appearing
in the fall, but maturing early in the
spring; second, Orni, and third, sor1liteS.
! In August the s0raiteS will be found to con-
| tain worms Matched from eggs deposited
| by flies. In October and November these
worms become flies and pierce the young
! fig, crotiiteS, which appear in September
] anu remain Oh tHS Tree ulltll MAY lOlloM-
! ing, and furnish lodgment for the eggs Of
the second class of flies. Although the
first crop in the spring, it is called the win
ter fig. In May the second crop of figs
called orni, appears, and when they begin
! to open at the eye they are pierced by the
| flies produced by the winter fig. When
| the worms bred in the spring fig, orni, are
! transformed into flies, which happens in
May or June, the peasants cut of branches
of the wild fig bearing the spring fig, or
string the figs together and hang them
among the branches of the edible or cul-
tivated fig. The insects, emerging from
| the wild fig, Orni, enter the tame fig by the
eye, where they irritate the pulp, lay their
eggs, and are supposed to cause the fer;il,
ization of the pistil, enlarge The fg, and
hasten its maturity.
This is the tradition and practice among
the cultiyators Of the fig IN the valley of
the Meander whence principally comes the
so called Smyrna fig. But little is known
about the practice, aid the peasants can
give no reason for il except that their fathers
did it. Writers only allude to it as fact
when discussing it, and differ in their de-
scriptions; but the best and most lucid is
the above, taken. from Reefs Cyclopeiia. 1t
is now claimed that we must import the
capri fig with the insect in order that the
Smyrna fig may be matured.
The purpose of this article is to show
that
CAPRIFICATI0N Is NOT NECCESsARY.
Various theories have been advanced
why the practice is pursued, but the princi-
pal ones are, first that it was necessary to
impregnate the pistil or female organ of
the edible fig with the pollen from the wild
fig to induce formulation and, second, that
the irritation by the fly produced an in
Aammation, which, if it did not increase
the size of the fruit, at least hastens its
maturity. as II is said the Goblin moth in
duces early ripening in the apple, and also
causes the fruit to set in greater numbers
than it would without the aid of the capri
fig.
The discussion upon this question ap-
pears to be quite learned, and is only
paralleled by that of the pundits who
strove to give a reason why, when ten
pound fish is put in bucket of water, the
bucket and contents will weigh more, until
some hard-headed fellow suggested trying
it to see whether such was the fact. The
discussion seems to be based on the
fact that caprifcation was necessary.
1t was reserved for Professor Gasparini,
of Italy, to conduct series of experiments
for five or six years, and the conclusion
that he reached was that it was not only
not necessary, but absolutely detrimental.
The Royal Academy of Science of Naples,
proposed as the subject of an essay, among
other matters relating to the fig, the follow
| ing: :" To prove by experiment. or on ana
tomical or physiological grounds, whether
the fertilization of the seeds is effected by
the insect of the carpi fig, or whether the
insect produces no such effect and caprifi-
cation be useless"
g ,o.r 20 Il iuiI cd in
parts. The first has an account of the
capri fig, which he considers not only
specifically but generically distinct from the
cultivated fig The third relates to caprifi-
cation. He proceeded in truly scientific
| mode, and after he had collected his facts,
there was nothing left of the capritication
theory. He addressed himself to these
questions
1. Does the capri fig fecundate the fe-
male flower heads of the domestic fig, or
the late fig, and make them set? ?" He found
that the White fig, the Dottato, and others,
which the Neapolitans do not caprify, pro-
duce an abundance of fertile seeds, even in
places where caprification is never practiced
| and where the capri fig is rare. In the Sc
ries of his experiments, which he names,
he states that the insect flies with difficulty,
and after it has entered the fig it dies there
and is found either entirely or partly de-
composed. Its presence can always be
detected, and therefore it can not be said
that it left a fortified fig and as the bee,
went to other flowers. In places where
there were no capri figs and where cap
rification was not practicable found the
seeds perfect in fig which did not show
the least sign of the insect having pene-
trated. In the middle of July he impreg-
mated artifcially thirty flower heads of
Lardaro fig by introducing the pollen of
the capri fig; one month after ten of
them had fallen from the tree without
their seeds being fortified, and the re-
manning ones did not differ in size or in
the number of fertile seeds they con-
tanned from the others of the same tree
| which had not been capriied. For three
consecutive years he conducted this ex-
neriment Before any flies issued from the